When using a car or a truck having a trailer hitch on the rear thereof to pull a trailer, it is normally difficult, if not impossible, to see the hitching mechanism of the vehicle and the hitching mechanism of the trailer, during the critical time when the rear of the vehicle is close to the hitching mechanism of the trailer. For that reason, it is a common practice for the driver of the vehicle to find a second person to stand near the trailer and guide the vehicle driver so that the hitch of the vehicle will be driven under the hitching mechanism of the trailer. Even with such help, it is extremely difficult to back a vehicle and get it precisely aligned so that the hitch on the vehicle will be exactly in the proper position with respect to the hitching mechanism on the trailer tongue. Of course it is not always possible to have a second person available to direct the vehicle driver so in such a case the vehicle driver must back up by trial and error, getting out of the vehicle and inspecting the relative position of the hitch of the vehicle and the hitching mechanism on the trailer tongue until such hitching process is complete. This, of course, can be a long and frustrating experience.
Others in the prior art have tried to solve the aforementioned problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,703 to Voelkerding, et al proposes to use a pair of vehicle sighting rods and balls extending upwardly on each side of a hitch but somewhat rearwardly thereof. This patent of Voelkerding then also uses a similar trailer sighting rod and ball attached to and above a hitch mechanism on the front of a trailer so that as the vehicle driver backs the vehicle rearwardly toward the hitching mechanism on the trailer, the vehicle sighting rods and balls on the vehicle can be positioned relative to the trailer sighting rod and ball. While this is an excellent approach to the problem, because the vehicle sighting rods and balls are not lined up with the ball hitch on the vehicle, the hitching mechanism on the trailer will not drop down over the ball hitch on the vehicle even after the vehicle sighting rods and balls are positioned so that the trailer sighting rod and ball is directly between them. Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to align the hitch mechanism on the trailer tongue from side to side directly over the ball of the vehicle hitch. This problem is exacerbated when the trailer tongue is too heavy for the user to lift up, pull to one side or the other, or to pull the trailer forwardly or rearwardly.
Consequently, there is a need for a trailer hitching apparatus which will overcome the aforementioned problems with the prior art.